


A Flicker in Time

by Myst_Marshall



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drama, Friendship, Gen, Team Bonding, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myst_Marshall/pseuds/Myst_Marshall
Summary: Minato was good at many things, but getting Kakashi and Obito to get along was something that even he couldn’t accomplish. It’s ironic that all it took was a few trips to the future to accomplish what Minato couldn’t in three years: Kakashi and Obito working as a team.
Comments: 37
Kudos: 250





	1. Chapter 1

Minato left the house that morning with Kushina yelling after him to invite his kiddos over for a New Year's dinner. Minato was quick to agree, flashing to the training fields before Kushina could shove a grocery list in his hands.

He had known it was coming and he could already picture Kushina's furious look when she stomped out of the front door, only to realize that he wasn't anywhere in sight. Good thing his students would be there to serve as a buffer tonight.

Training proceeded in the normal manner. Individual training in the morning followed by a team lunch, then group training in the afternoon. It was one of those rare days that Minato had a day off and judging by Kakashi's eagerness to spar with him, his student knew it too. And he wanted to make the most of his sensei's free time.

Minato would gladly train with Kakashi anytime he asked. A prodigy in his own right, Kakashi always kept Minato on his toes, lest he pulled another trick from out of nowhere. Minato wasn't sure how he was learning all these jutsus on his own, but he learned to not underestimate the chunin after the genjutsu stunt Kakashi had pulled on him last time.

For a chunin, Kakashi was certainly impressive and Minato was certain that he would make it to jonin soon.

However, Minato had two other students to train as well. He couldn't exactly pick favorites, even though everyone else around him would tell him that it was painfully obvious who his favorite was. In Minato's defense, it only seemed like that because he had been training Kakashi for much longer than the other two.

At least that's what Minato told himself.

While Rin never said anything about it, Obito didn't hesitate to make his frustrations known.

Following the second individual spar with Kakashi, Obito stomped over to him, with Rin following closely behind him. She tugged on his arm, trying to calm his rage, but Obito's thoughts were too clouded with fury to process anything she was saying.

"Sensei!" Obito shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the duo. "When are you going to spar with me? You told me it would be my turn after the last spar!"

Minato chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah sorry Obito, guess we got a bit carried away."

"Sure, sure," Obito responded. "But it's my turn now."

Kakashi shrugged, moving to step out of the way. On his way to the sidelines, his shoulder brushed against Obito's, head turning and eyes locking on to Obito's gaze.

"Good luck lasting five minutes against Sensei."

Obito sputtered, whirling around with his fist raised ready to clock the arrogant prodigy, but Kakashi was already out of reach. He stood next to Rin, an eyebrow raised at him, almost like he was taunting him to come after him. With a vicious glare, Obito dropped his fist back to his side and walked towards Minato.

_Just watch and see, Bakakashi,_ Obito thought angrily. _One day, I'll become an even better shinobi than you'll ever be!_

Obito lost the match, but that was to be expected. Even the oh so arrogant prodigy had never gotten the bells from Minato. As Obito walked to rejoin Rin on the sidelines, he traded a glare with Kakashi. As usual, Kakashi decided to ignore him.

"Who was the one who said I couldn't last five minutes?"

Besides him, Rin let out a long sigh. They were going to go at it again. There wouldn't be a single day of peace on Team Minato with these two around.

"He was obviously going easy on you, idiot," Kakashi retorted.

"You say that like he wasn't going easy on you either, Bakakashi! Stop acting like you're-"

"Hey, hey," Minato interjected. "Both of you did really well today. Can the two of you stop fighting for one day? Just one? It's the last day of the year, so please, give us a break." Minato made eye contact with Rin, who vigorously nodded at Minato's request.

Kakashi and Obito exchanged glances for a brief second before they turned their heads away in the opposite direction. Minato sighed, at least they weren't arguing. He'd supposed that he should just take what he could get.

"Kushina invited all of you over for dinner."

Rin was the first to politely decline, citing that she had already promised her parents that she would be home for dinner. Minato accepted her excuse.

Obito was the second to open his mouth, but Minato cut him off before any words could leave his mouth. "You and Kakashi don't have any excuses. The two of you will be coming to dinner."

"But Sensei!" Obito whined. "I don't want to spend even more time with that jerk over there." His finger was pointed in Kakashi's direction. The boy in question turned around, shooting him a glare.

Kakashi scoffed. "Like I want to either."

Minato smiled. "Then the two of you can personally go explain to Kushina why you can't make it to dinner. If she agrees, then I don't have a problem with it."

Obito gulped at the mention of the fierce kunoichi. Kakashi hmphed but didn't dare to say anything back. The two of them had learned their lesson long ago about incurring Kushina's wrath. If there was one thing that both of them agreed on, it was that.

The smile on Minato's face grew wider. "Perfect! Training is dismissed. I have to run an errand at the Hokage tower before I go home, so the two of you will come with me to make sure you don't get any ideas about skipping dinner. Rin, see you tomorrow."

All the plans to get out of dinner that Kakashi had begun to form in his mind immediately dissipated upon hearing Minato's words. There was no way that he would be able to escape under Minato's watch, prodigy or not. A look of displeasure formed on his face as Kakashi inwardly resigned himself to another annoying dinner.

Undoubtedly, Obito would say something to irritate him, so Kakashi would be compelled to respond back. Kushina would yell at both of them for arguing over the dinner table, smacking them on the head with the nearest objects. Once it had been a ladle, the other time was her set of chopsticks. Kakashi had the foresight to dodge the second time, but that only incited Kushina's wrath even further.

The two boys were silent while they followed Minato to the Hokage Tower. Minato hid his amusement; it was weirdly entertaining watching the two boys brood and pout about their current predicament. At least they were in it together, so maybe they'll finally use teamwork to get out of it.

Minato could hope, but he knew the chances were slim to none. They'd much rather suffer in silence than to acknowledge each other.

Minato stopped in front of the Hokage archives. Technically, two chunins didn't have the clearance to enter the archives, but he also didn't trust them to stay outside and not make a run for it. It looked like he had no choice to let them in.

"Don't touch anything in here," Minato warned, especially to Obito as he knew Kakashi was a stickler for rules. At least Kakashi would be there to keep Obito in check. "I'll be right back." Minato headed off to the next aisles, always keeping a tab on both of their chakra signatures.

Kakashi found his gaze fixated on a particular spot on the ceiling while Obito's eyes widened as he took in the titles of the scrolls. There were so many cool sounding jutsus that Obito wished he could take so he could learn them.

And once he did, Obito could finally show Kakashi who was superior between the two of them.

Kakashi's eyes flickered briefly to Obito, who had moved away from him as he continued to scan the shelf. He ignored him; Obito wasn't violating the rules, yet.

"Oi Kakashi," Obito whispered-yelled.

Kakashi's gaze snapped to him. "What?"

"Is time travel real?"

"Of course not," Kakashi shot back. "Only idiots believe in that kind of stuff."

"Then why is there a scroll labelled time travel?" Obito made a move to grab the scroll, standing on his tiptoes to reach it. Kakashi hurried over to Obito's side, reaching to snatch the scroll out of his hands, but Obito moved it out of his reach.

"Sensei said not to touch anything in here," Kakashi hissed. "Now give me the scroll."

"Don't be so uptight Kakashi. Besides, aren't you curious what the scroll contains? Time travel! Maybe we can see what we look like in the future!"

Well when Obito put it that way, Kakashi couldn't help but admit that he was slightly curious. Maybe if they saw that Obito didn't become Hokage in the future, the boy would shut up about his dream and Kakashi would have something to hold over his head.

Perhaps that was the part of the reason that Kakashi didn't stop Obito from opening the scroll. Reading the contents of it wouldn't hurt, would it?

_Upon activation of the scroll, the user will be taken to someone close to the user in the future. If the user has no ties in the future, the user will die upon activation. The user will have no control over the passage or sequence of time. Once activated, the user cannot undo the jutsu, the future will run its course until it is finished._

"Wow," Obito said. "Time travel is real. I can see what I'm like in the future."

Kakashi grabbed Obito's wrist, stopping him from putting his hand on the scroll. "You don't know if this is legit or not. Besides, we're not supposed to touch anything. You're already breaking the rules by reading the scroll."

Obito frowned. "It's all about rules, rules, rules for you. Why can't you just lay off for once?" He wrestled his hand out of Kakashi's grasp.

"Listen, I don't care what you think. I'm going to do this, with or without your support."

Minato had just located the scroll that he was looking for. Tucking it into the back of his weapons pouch, he began to make his way towards the entrance, when he began to hear his two students conversing in an agitated manner. He needed to hurry before another argument broke out.

As Minato rounded the corner, he saw Obito sitting in front of a scroll. His eyes widened considerably; all of the scrolls in the archives were forbidden for a reason, Obito could get hurt.

But it was too late. Obito had slammed his palm down onto the scroll, channeling his chakra into the sealing formula. Kakashi was shouting something at him. Minato lamented the fact that Hiruzen was actually going to kill him this time, if Kushina didn't get to him first.

A flash of white light appeared, knocking all three of them off of their feet.

Then everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> I'm sure this is probably the one thousandth time travel story you've seen, but I seriously have an addiction with Team Minato time travel stories, so I figured it was time to contribute my own! I hope that it'll live up to your expectations. And if you have any suggestions for more good Team Minato time travel stories, please send them my way. I'm always looking for more :)
> 
> This is going to be a short story, because I've set up this story so that they see some select, future events. Fair warning: I did go for more obscure events, so if you're here for Kannabi Bridge, evil Obito or Rin & Minato's deaths, you're not going to get it in this story. Sorry, but I felt those events are overdone in many other stories and I wanted some creative freedom in writing some events. With that being said, I still hope that this story is entertaining enough for you! 
> 
> Thanks for reading and until next time!  
> -MM


	2. Chapter 2

Minato groaned as he forced his eyes to open. Rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand, he let out a hiss as he eased away some of the pounding feeling in his head. Propping himself with an elbow, Minato eased himself into a sitting position.

Everything was different. They were still in what looked like the Hokage's archives, but the arrangement of the shelves had drastically changed. There were more scrolls in the room than before. Even the color of the walls, tiles of the floors, and the ceiling had changed. It was almost like...they were in a remodeled version of the room?

By the time that fact had sunk into Minato's mind, both Obito and Kakashi were up on their feet as well. The scroll that Obito had was notably missing.

"Look what you've done," Kakashi accused. "We don't know where we are or how long we'll be stuck here."

Before Obito could respond back, Minato interjected. "Can one of you explain to me exactly what that scroll was?"

With a guilty look on his face, Obito informed him of the situation.

Time travel, huh?

Minato nodded. "There's no use in blaming Obito for what happened, Kakashi. What has happened has happened. If the scroll said we can't go back until the future has run its course, then I imagine that there are things that we need to see before the scroll will move us along. First, we need to locate that person who is close to us so we can have a better idea of where we're at."

Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine. Where do you suggest we start then?"

"The Hokage's office!" Obito piped up.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You just want to see if you became Hokage."

"Not true," Obito insisted. "If we know who the Hokage is, then we'll have a better idea of what time period we're in."

Minato smiled at Obito. "That's a great idea." Kakashi didn't say anything in response, just simply followed them out of the archives and towards the Hokage's office.

Minato knocked on the door lightly. There was no response. He swung open the door, revealing an empty chair with a pile of paperwork on the corner of the desk. The window was left open, the breeze filtering into the room and sweeping the top paper off the stack. The paper fluttered through the air before it gently settled on the ground.

The three of them piled into the room. Kakashi bent down to pick up the piece of paper, but it didn't reveal much besides a list of names that he didn't recognize.

Minato whirled around when he heard footsteps coming. Not a minute later, a person rushed into the room. His mouth was open, ready to explain their presence but the person's eyes simply brushed over them.

"Damnit, why am I always responsible for making sure he's on time? This is too troublesome," the man muttered. A Nara, if Minato had to guess from the similar hairstyle and facial features as Shikaku Nara. Perhaps his son?

The Nara was grown up, perhaps in his mid twenties so that possibly meant they were possibly two generations into the future.

"Excuse me," Minato called out, trying to get Nara's attention. The Nara ignored him as he stuck his head out through the open window, surveying the vicinity.

Minato tried again, but the Nara still didn't answer. He exchanged questioning glances with his students.

"He's so rude," Obito muttered under his breath. Minato's eyes snapped towards the Nara, gauging to see if he had heard Obito's comment. There didn't seem to be any indication that it was the case.

"You idiot. I don't think they can see or hear us," Kakashi stated. "That's the only logical explanation."

Minato agreed, but they didn't have time to discuss it any further. The Nara murmured something that sounded like "he's probably at that place again" before he slipped out of the window. Minato motioned for them to follow.

If the Nara was looking for the Hokage, then following him would lead them to the Hokage. The Nara moved at surprising speed as he hopped across the rooftops. Minato noted the amount of construction that was going on in the village; at least a quarter of it, but the Nara didn't seem too bothered by it.

What had happened here? Minato wished that he knew the answer to that.

Surprisingly, the Nara had led them to the Hokage monument. Obito was the first to let out a gasp, pointing up at the mountain. Both Minato and Kakashi stopped, following Obito's finger until their gaze landed on the fourth figure.

"Sensei, you became the Hokage!" Obito gasped. "Does that mean you're the current Hokage?"

Minato chuckled, inwardly delighted that he had achieved his lifelong dream. Yet he knew he couldn't be too happy for long as Minato noted the fifth figure on the Hokage mountain. Tsunade.

The logical part of his mind concluded that he must have been dead for the fifth Hokage to be Tsunade. At his young age, Minato intended to become Hokage for at least a decade or two and by the time he would have stepped down, Tsunade would be far too old to take the seat.

He was dead in the future.

Kakashi had seemed to come to the same conclusion. He was the one who settled down Obito's excitement by pointing out there was a fifth figure on the mountain, followed by the beginnings of a sixth.

"The current Hokage is probably the sixth. They haven't finished carving the face, but from the construction going on in the village, I wagered rebuilding the village was more important than carving a face," Kakashi said.

Obito's jaw dropped. "Does that mean it could be me?"

Without waiting for a response, Obito left off of the rooftop, following the route that the Nara had taken just prior. Sighing, Minato and Kakashi followed after the overly eager Obito. When they landed at the top of the mountain, Obito's back was facing them.

The Nara was saying something, but the three of them were more focused on the lanky figure that sat atop the Fourth Hokage's head. The man was dressed in what looked like an updated version of the traditional jonin wear: the flak jacket was replaced with body armor, the traditional green and blue seemed to be swapped in favor of a deeper green and black.

What shocked Minato the most was the familiar unruly silver mop of hair. It almost seemed like the man was...a grown up version of Kakashi?

Besides him, Minato could make out the horrified look on young Kakashi's face, even with the mask.

"No way," Kakashi whispered.

"Hokage sama," the Nara addressed. Young Kakashi made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "You're going to be late for your meeting with the council."

Hokage Kakashi patted the spot next to him, inviting the Nara to sit.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that, Shikamaru?"

Minato peered over to Obito, trying to gauge his expression. He expected it to happen at any moment, for Obito to blow up because Kakashi had somehow become Hokage instead of him, but it never came.

"Hmph, I didn't know you had ambitions to become Hokage, Bakakashi. You may have won here, but when we get back to our time, I'm going to make sure I beat you to it," Obito announced haughtily.

Kakashi scoffed. "I don't even want to become Hokage, idiot. I'm sure my future self was forced into it."

Shikamaru reminded Hokage Kakashi that he was going to be late if he didn't leave now, to which he uttered in the most monotone voice, "Let them wait."

Obito pointed an accusing finger at Hokage Kakashi. "What happened to the Kakashi who's always on time? It's an imposter! You're acting too strange!"

The younger Kakashi pulled Obito back when he made a move to storm up to Shikamaru and Hokage Kakashi. "They can't hear you. You're just wasting your energy."

Obito huffed in annoyance at the fact that Kakashi was always right. He settled down, finally staying quiet enough for Minato and Kakashi to listen in on his future counterpart's conversation.

"This is too troublesome," Shikamaru murmured, plopping down in the spot where Hokage Kakashi had invited him to sit earlier. "Remind me again why I took on such a troublesome position."

Hokage Kakashi chuckled, much to Obito's shock. He hadn't seen Kakashi exhibit emotions other than stoicism and annoyance at him. It was surprisingly...jarring.

"Not any more troublesome than becoming Hokage," Hokage Kakashi was saying. "Sometimes, it feels so surreal that I'm here. You know, I've always pictured my sensei, my teammate, and my student as Hokage, but never myself. Some days I wonder if it's all a dream and I'll wake up and be just a regular jonin of Konoha."

"Who else? Naruto is still too inexperienced for the role and you're one of the few left from your generation. Not to mention, you're the most qualified."

"It wasn't supposed to me in the chair," Hokage Kakashi confessed. "I hate him for passing his stupid dreams onto me."

Shikamaru's gaze slid over to him. "Are you talking about Obito?"

It was hardly visible, but Hokage Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Ah. If not for him, I wouldn't be alive. I think he should have stayed alive so he could accomplish these dreams himself."

Kakashi was more focused on the fact that the boy standing next to him would die at some point in the future, but Obito had other ideas. He jabbed his elbow into Kakashi's side in a teasing manner.

"Why does your future self sound like you actually don't hate me?" A huge grin was plastered on Obito's face.

"I don't hate you," Kakashi stated through gritted teeth. "I just find you annoying, that's all. And why is that the point? Aren't you more concerned that you died?"

Obito shrugged, the same silly grin remained planted on his face. "It sounds like I died to save you. If that's the case, then I'm content. After all, I would never abandon my comrades."

Kakashi simply stared at him, unable to fathom why he thought comrades were so important that he was willing to accept dying for them. He knew that Obito treasured friendship a lot more than he did, but to go to that extent? He couldn't understand it.

Minato watched as his student's mind began to turn upon hearing Obito's words. Perhaps, this accident wouldn't be too bad after all, if it got Kakashi to view the importance of comrades in a different light. From what he had seen of Hokage Kakashi, it seemed that his older counterpart had learned the lesson that Minato had desperately tried to impart onto Kakashi, but he had a gut feeling that the lesson had been learned all too late.

"Maa, I don't know why I'm feeling so nostalgic today," Hokage Kakashi commented.

"It's good that you're finally talking about the past. I heard from Naruto that you never talk about it, even with your students. He didn't even find out that the Fourth Hokage was your sensei until so late."

Hokage Kakashi shot him a questioning look. "Is it? The past should just stay in the past."

Hokage Kakashi placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "I'm glad that you didn't have to grow up in an era of war so you don't have to understand."

"What do you mean that I don't understand? I lost-"

Hokage Kakashi cut him off. "Asuma, I know and you're not the only one who lost him. My graduating class started with nine and now we are only five. You still have all nine." Hokage Kakashi paused for a moment, pondering over his next words. As he thought, he slowly raised his right hand in front of Shikamaru's face. There was a faraway look in his eyes when Hokage Kakashi spoke again.

"At least you don't have to understand what it felt like to kill one of your comrades."

Shikamaru blinked in surprise at Hokage Kakashi's confession. Obito's jaw dropped while Kakashi turned away, unable to look at his future counterpart. Had he really gone that far as to kill a comrade? If that was the case, Kakashi felt sickened to what he had become.

Minato placed a comforting hand on Kakashi's back. "I'm sure your future self had reasons. We don't know the entire story, so don't be too quick to make any conclusions alright?" Obito vigorously nodded in agreement, while Kakashi mulled over Minato's words. His gaze slid over to his future counterpart, wondering how he could be so at ease with himself. Did he not have a heart?

Hokage Kakashi abruptly stood up, startling everyone. All traces of solemness were gone. Amusement danced in his eyes. "So about that meeting?"

The three of them had moved to follow Hokage Kakashi, but a bright flash of light engulfed them once more. Minato held on tightly to both of his students, shutting his eyes to shield it from the blindingly white rays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> There's no particular order for the passage of time and I wanted to start off with Hokage Kakashi because Obito wanted to know if he became Hokage so I thought it was a nice way to start off their time travel journey. And well, I think it'll be a good reassurance for Team Minato that Kakashi turned out alright when they get to the darker parts... :)
> 
> Apologies if I made Obito slightly OOC; I scaled back his obnoxiousness because I don't think I can keep up with it. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! See you soon.   
> -MM


	3. Chapter 3

The light disappeared. When Minato slowly slid his eyes open once more, it was dark. And they were in a room. Kakashi's room to be exact, judging from the sleeping figure on the bed.

"Urgh, where are we now?" Obito groaned, rubbing the sore spot on his arm which he had hit upon the rough landing. Kakashi simply directed his attention to the sleeping figure.

"Kakashi again?" Obito questioned. "Why you? There's nothing interesting about your life."

"Well if you and Sensei are dead, then there's only me," Kakashi retorted.

"Yeah, but you look so young here. I couldn't have died that early."

Neither Kakashi or Minato had the heart to tell him that there was a possibility that he did die so early. After all, they were embroiled in the middle of a war and that meant a high number of casualties. Inwardly, Kakashi vowed that he wouldn't let Obito sacrifice himself when they got back. Maybe if he was the one to die instead, the future would become an even better place.

Their conversation was interrupted when future Kakashi suddenly sat upright in his bed, breathing heavily like his life depended on it. Upon approaching the future version closer, Minato could see the droplets of sweat trickling down his forehead. His left eye donned a scar and the future version kept it firmly shut. His left hand gripped the wrist of his right, holding it up to his face. His lone eye stared at it in horror.

His eye reflected many untold stories that led to this horror. Minato's heart ached for the young boy, even if it was the future, Kakashi was still his student. If his future counterpart was still alive at this point in time, Minato cursed himself for not giving his student enough attention.

Without warning, future Kakashi flung the blanket off of his body. Feet swinging to the floor, he practically bolted to the kitchen. With one flick, the sink was turned on and his right hand was dosed under the stream of water.

Obito was the first to enter the kitchen, gasping as he watched future Kakashi viciously rub at the skin of his hand. Kakashi followed, doing nothing more than staring apathetically at his future self.

"Oi Kakashi is crying," Obito pointed out. He hadn't meant it in an insulting way; contrary to what Kakashi thought, Obito could read the current situation well enough to know this wasn't a joking matter. It was just shocking for him to witness any version of Kakashi crying.

Kakashi was a lot of things but he wasn't a crier.

"It won't come off. It won't come off," future Kakashi murmured as his hand continued to scrub at his skin. Tears continued to stream down his face, the fabric of the mask soaking it up. Despite his left eye remaining firmly shut, tears leaked out of that eye too.

Minato's paternal instincts kicked in, his hand reaching out to pull future Kakashi into a hug, but his hand passed straight through the boy and grasped air. The bottom of his lip quivered as he slowly retracted his hand and continued to watch future Kakashi scrub his skin until it turned raw.

Mechanically, the boy shut off the faucet, wiped his tears, and returned to bed as if nothing had ever happened.

His two students were strangely quiet after the whole ordeal. Kakashi wouldn't speak even when prompted by Minato, so he left him alone.

It had taken a day of following around future Kakashi to find out everything was going to go horribly wrong in the near future. It started with future Kakashi wandering through the village streets, blatantly ignoring Gai's proposal to spar and Asuma's invitation to come join them for dango.

The three time travellers froze upon hearing Kurenai's words.

"He's still hurting, isn't he? I mean, I can't even imagine...losing both Obito and Rin in such a short amount of time." She kept her voice hushed as she spoke, almost like she was afraid of being overheard.

Hearing those words only confirmed Kakashi's thoughts. Both of his teammates would be dead, along with his sensei. If they were still alive, Kakashi would never have been Hokage and he imagined that he would have seen them in the future already. Despite what they thought, his team was a huge part of his life.

His future self looked no older than thirteen at this point in time.

In two years, Kakashi would lose both of his teammates.

Obito was the one to break the solemn atmosphere. "Hey, so opening the scroll was a good thing after all! Since we know what happens, we'll prevent it from happening."

His words made sense, but Kakashi was hesitant to believe it.

"We don't know how you died so how can we change it?"

"When we get back, I'll train extra hard to make sure that all three of us get out of there alive, isn't that right, Sensei?" Obito proclaimed.

Minato flashed him a warm smile. "That's right."

When the trio caught up with future Kakashi, the boy in question had just picked a book titled "How a Shinobi Should Die." Obito went on a rant about why he would read such morbid things to which Minato gently replied that it was possible that future Kakashi was going through PTSD.

It wasn't just a possibility, it was a fact. Kakashi recognized all of the same signs and actions that followed after witnessing his father's suicide. Only, it looked as if his mental state had deteriorated even further in the future.

Future Kakashi saw something, startling him enough to drop the book onto the ground. He promptly fled, leading Team Minato to chase after him as he sped across the rooftops at a ridiculous speed.

He found his solace at the memorial stone.

In Minato's opinion, the copious amount of time that future Kakashi spent at the memorial stone was exceedingly unhealthy. For the next three hours, future Kakashi simply stood there staring at the stone, not even saying a single word. It had gotten to the point where Obito had begun to grow restless and had opted to explore the nearby area. Even when Obito had gotten bored and wandered back to where they were, future Kakashi hadn't moved an inch.

Obito groaned. "Is he just going to stand there all day?"

Kakashi scoffed. "Maybe you should learn a little patience."

At the three hour and a half mark, future Kakashi tilted his head to look at the sky, noting the sun's position. His posture relaxed marginally as he stuck his hands into his pocket. His gaze slid back to the memorial stone before he took slow, deliberate steps towards the memorial stone. Future Kakashi bent down, the tips of his fingers brushing over where Obito's name had been carved in.

No words had to be said. Minato understood that this was future Kakashi's way of bidding Obito a farewell.

As future Kakashi walked away from the memorial stone, Obito was the first to race after him, calling for Minato and Kakashi to get moving. Minato had been hesitant to follow at first, thinking that there would be another time skip, yet after two minutes of nothing happening, he took off after his student. Kakashi followed the pair quietly, mind whirling as he tried to piece together everything he learned thus far.

He refused to let this happen.

The Hokage Tower was future Kakashi's next destination. Minato watched as future Kakashi mechanically knelt down in front of his future counterpart - the Fourth Hokage - in the same manner that all Anbu personnel did.

Minato wanted to curse his future self. What had he been thinking when he enlisted Kakashi into the Anbu? At the rate it was going, being in the Anbu would only deteriorate Kakashi's mental health.

Hokage Minato gestured for future Kakashi to get up. Bowing his head, future Kakashi slowly picked himself off of the ground, still refusing to meet Hokage Minato's eyes.

"You can still call me Minato sensei," Hokage Minato stated softly.

Future Kakashi answered with a sharp nod. "Did you need something, Sensei?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. It's been a while since we spoke about things other than missions."

"I'm okay." There was no hesitation in future Kakashi's words. "You don't have to worry about me."

"Kakashi…" There was a mixture of hesitation and pain in Hokage Minato's tone, but everyone in the room knew that the harder that he pushed, the more that Kakashi - both versions - would recoil from the invasiveness.

"I'm okay, really."

Obito snorted. "That's so unconvincing." Kakashi shot him a glare.

Hokage Minato cocked his head to the side. "You're three hours late. You're never late."

Obito opened his mouth, probably to tease the younger counterpart for being late, but Minato clamped a hand over Obito's mouth, effectively stopping the words from coming out of his mouth. One, he simply didn't believe that it was a joking matter, especially seeing future Kakashi's haggard state. Two, Minato didn't want to miss future Kakashi's reply.

From the outlines of the mask, Minato could make out a hint of future Kakashi's attempt to smile, but the lifeless look in his eye didn't match it.

"I wasn't on time when it mattered the most, so what's the point?"

Future Minato pressed his lips tightly together. Minato recognized that as his go to move for when he wanted to stop himself from reprimanding Obito every time he was late or lecturing Kakashi to care about his comrades for the umpteenth time. He imagined his future counterpart was fighting the urge to comfort his student.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" future Minato offered. He didn't take the bait. Future Kakashi only absent-mindedly nodded, the words going into one ear and then out the other.

"Is that all you wanted me for, Sensei?"

Future Minato nodded. "Come over for dinner tonight."

"Can't," was all future Kakashi had to offer before he flash stepped out of the Hokage's office before future Minato could prod him any further. The Hokage slumped over at his desk, using the palm of his hand to prop his head.

"You're still so difficult to work with in the future," Obito stated, earning himself a scathing glare from Kakashi. Minato wanted to chuckle, but his future suddenly let out a sigh, loud enough to be heard even across the room.

"I feel like I failed him," future Minato murmured, the movement of his lips hardly visible. "If only I had gotten there in time…"

The three of them never got the opportunity to hear the end of that sentence. A flash of bright light shined down on them, forcing them to squeeze their eyes shut. Inwardly, Kakashi hoped that it would show someone else this time; he didn't really want to find out more of the terrible things that he had done in the future.

Of course, fate was never really on his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!   
> -MM


	4. Chapter 4

When he hesitantly slid his eyes open again once the light disappeared, the first thing he noticed was his future self, a few years older than when they had seen him.

Obito groaned. "Kakashi again?"

Minato lightly ruffled Obito's hair in response. "It makes sense that we're tied to him since he's the only one that's the left in the future. Besides, we'll make sure that this time around, all of us will get to live in the future, right Obito?"

"I guess."

Obito didn't get to say anything else because they were instantly alerted when future Kakashi began to move. Sliding the Anbu mask into its rightful place, future Kakashi leapt down from his vantage point in the trees, landing deftly on his feet. With a hand arched over his shoulder to grasp the handle of his sword that was still sheathed in the holster, future Kakashi slowly turned in a full circle. His eye surveyed his surroundings, ears perked up at the slightest noise.

There was nothing but the sound of rustling leaves.

Three minutes later, future Kakashi abruptly spun on his heels and darted off into the forest. Team Minato was quick to follow, not before Minato spotted a shadow streak across the clearing.

Looks like they weren't the only ones after him. Future Kakashi had cause to be wary.

They chased after him for ten minutes before the entrance of a cave appeared. Or rather future Kakashi yanked one of the branches downward, forcing the makeshift door to slide open. Glancing one more time over his shoulder, future Kakashi traversed into the cave.

Minato noted that the shadow was able to slip into the cave in the tiny space right before the entrance closed again, basking them in complete darkness. Future Kakashi didn't bother to ignite a source of light. The only indication that he was even there at all was the sound of his footsteps, so faint that even a seasoned shinobi like Minato had a hard time picking up on it.

He couldn't pick up on his chakra either.

Minato felt a hand wrap around his wrist.

"Sensei, I'll follow him with my nose," Kakashi whispered softly. Minato nodded, before coming to the realization that his student couldn't see him at all. Groping blindly in the dark, Minato found Obito, tugging on him lightly to guide him as Kakashi was guiding him. It was a slow and cumbersome process, but it was worth it when they didn't ram into any walls.

Oh wait, they could pass through objects, couldn't they? But that would potentially lead them to somewhere that they didn't want to be, like stuck underground.

Thinking about the mechanics of his ghostly, but not phantom self made Minato's head hurt.

Light. Kakashi's hand fell back to his side when they spotted a bit of light. Kakashi ran after his future counterpart, who had just disappeared into the ground. Minato and Obito were quick to follow, reaching the hole that future Kakashi had descended. Kakashi and Obito jumped down at the same time, with Minato taking up the rear.

Minato was thoroughly sickened at the sight. There was a long row of containers, about twenty of them, with a seemingly lifeless body floating in the blue-green liquid. Numerous tubes were attached to the bodies, connecting to the pipes that went underground.

Future Kakashi calmly surveyed each container, slowly moving from one container to the next with calculated, languid steps. The tips of his gloves grazed against the glass, smoothly sliding over them. He stopped at the last container in the row, staring at it for far longer than he had with the others.

"Sensei, what is this?" Obito furtively whispered like he was afraid of being caught.

"Experiments," Kakashi responded at his normal volume, earning an indignant look from Obito.

"Oi, keep your voice down."

Kakashi shrugged. "He can't hear us, baka."

Obito's mouth widened into an o shape before his lips curled upwards into a sheepish smile. "Oops?"

Kakashi ignored him in favor of walking right up to his future self to get a better view of exactly what he was looking at. Future Kakashi rummaged around in his weapons pouch before he fished out a few photos. Peering over, Kakashi angled his head so that he could see what was in his hands.

Future Kakashi pushed his Anbu mask to the side of his head. His left eye remained shut. He flickered back and forth between the photo and the figure in the glass, before he slowly raised the photo upwards so that it was side by side with the figure.

Kakashi noticed the slight change in his future self's expression before he quickly shoved the photos back into his weapons pouch, seemingly uncaring that they would get wrinkled. Despite only getting a glimpse, he had managed to put two and two together.

The people in the photos were here, in each of the individual containers. If Kakashi had to guess, he bet all of them were already long dead.

Spinning rapidly on his heels, future Kakashi marched towards the exit in clipped steps. He managed to make it halfway there before a figure rounded one of the containers, flying outwards to intercept him. Kakashi acted on instinct, having already drawn a kunai to take care of the intruder, before reminding himself that he couldn't do anything.

Reluctantly, Kakashi tucked his kunai away.

The intruder's kunai clashed against future Kakashi's sword, the clang of metal echoing through the empty laboratory. Future Kakashi's expression remained impassive while he surveyed him, committing his features to memory.

The intruder was younger than future Kakashi, about half a head shorter than him. The strangest thing was that he was wearing an Anbu mask as well, but future Kakashi certainly didn't treat him like a comrade.

The killing intent in the air was suffocating.

The boy backflipped twice to stretch the distance between them. Future Kakashi's sword fell to his side in a manner that suggested he didn't view the boy to be a threat in the slightest. Yet judging from how it had taken a millisecond for future Kakashi to brandish the sword earlier, Kakashi had no doubt that he would be able to counter any of the other Anbu's sudden moves.

"Who sent you?" His voice was detached and cold.

When the boy didn't answer, future Kakashi lifted his sword again, pointing the tip right at him. He took a menacing step forward. To his credit, the boy stood his ground, even with the sharp side of the sword digging into his mask.

He remained silent.

In one clean move, the sword cut through the boy's mask. The mask split in two pieces, cleanly in half. Gravity took over, letting the mask fall to the ground, landing with a loud clang.

Just as expected, Kakashi saw the face of a young boy behind the mask. Hints of baby fat still clung to his cheeks. His eyes were wide and round, yet they didn't reflect a single ounce of innocence in his dark orbs.

"I may have had mercy on you the last time that we met, but I won't be so lenient this time. Who sent you?"

Still, the boy didn't answer. Instead, he slowly opened his mouth, sticking his tongue outwards to allow all of them to clearly see the seal embedded into his tongue.

"Sensei, what's that?" Obito whispered, pointing at the strange sealing.

Minato frowned. "I believe it's some sort of seal to prevent them from leaking information, but I wasn't aware that Anbu were branded with it."

"I see," future Kakashi hissed. "Danzo, huh?"

At the mention of Danzo's name, Minato immediately perked up. "Danzo? The Root Foundation? But the Sandiame should have dissolved that organization a while ago!"

"Maybe he didn't," Kakashi suggested. "Clearly, they are not the same Anbu division. My future self can speak without restrictions, so obviously I don't have the seal."

Nobody knew how future Kakashi was going to react to the revelation, but they didn't expect him to raise a gloved hand and to press his fingers against the eyelid of his left eye. The same one that they had seen with a scar and kept shut the entire time…

Except not for the entire time.

"Sensei, Hokage Kakashi had both eyes open, right?" Kakashi questioned, seeking confirmation. He could almost swear that he wasn't hallucinating, but having seen the depth of the scar, there was no way that his eye survived.

Minato quickly caught on to Kakashi's train of thought. "He did. Perhaps an eye transplant? But I don't see why you would if you've adjusted to fighting with one eye."

"Two options," future Kakashi was saying. "You can turn around and abandon your mission and I'll pretend that I didn't see you. Or you can fight me for my eye at the cost of your life. Your choice."

The boy hesitated, contemplating his next course of action. Kakashi was surprised that his future self even offered that opportunity; he would have taken the advantage to attack him.

Hokage Kakashi's words rang in his head in a haunting manner. _At least you don't have to understand what it felt like to kill one of your comrades._

Had he been referring to this boy?

After a couple of minutes, the boy finally spoke. "And your eye is that important for you to lay down your life?"

Future Kakashi didn't even look a bit fazed at the boy's bold assumption that he would be the one to die today. "My best friend entrusted this eye to me for me to see the future in his stead."

Future Kakashi slowly opened his shut eye, revealing a red orb with three tomoes spinning rapidly.

The Sharingan.

Kakashi's mouth fell open in shock, but no one could see it because his mask covered it. Obito let out an audible gasp, blinking rapidly almost as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Minato simply stared at the eye, quickly putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

In the future before Obito died, he had given Kakashi his eye to replace his damaged one. Although Minato longed to know under what circumstances that this had to happen, he wasn't in control of the time travelling scroll.

"He gave me this eye, along with a promise."

"But you didn't keep the promise, so you're undeserving of the eye!" the boy shouted, lunging forward. Future Kakashi simply twisted his body out of the way. The boy barely caught his balance, teetering on the edge of toppling over as his feet struggled to right itself.

"I am," future Kakashi admitted. "But I also promised to help him see the future. He will be the only one to decide whether or not I am deserving of his eye. No one, not even you, can take that away from me."

"Even with an eye that is supposed to help you see the future clearer, you still managed to kill your friend."

An uncomfortable feeling crawled its way to Kakashi's stomach. Now that he knew that it wasn't the boy in front of him that he killed and based on the people he had seen in the last time arc and knowing that Rin was dead, he had an unsettling premonition that it was her.

From across the room, Minato shot him a warning look. "Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, Kakashi."

Obito glanced back and forth between the two of them, understanding that he was missing something, but he couldn't figure out what. For once, Kakashi almost wished that he was as oblivious as Obito was; he didn't want to be so quick to figure things out. Even a few extra moments of oblivion was welcomed.

But it seemed that the horrible news had to keep coming one after another. His father was dead, but Kakashi hadn't imagined that in such a short amount of time, he would lose the entirety of his team too.

Who else?

Maybe he was cursed to having everyone he cared to inevitably end up dead.

Future Kakashi and the boy clashed again; clearly, the boy had chosen to follow through with his mission. Kakashi would have made the same choice that he did, except after seeing the events of the future, he wasn't quite sure anymore.

He wasn't even sure of who he was at the moment, much less who he would become.

Sensing his student's distress, Minato walked straight through the fighting duo to reach Kakashi's side. Obito followed, although he wasn't as sharp as Minato.

"Don't worry about it, alright?" Minato placed a hand on his shoulder, like he always did when he wanted to calm them down. "None of this has happened yet, so we can change it when we get back."

"How?" Kakashi shouted, his inner turmoil finally bubbling over. "We don't even know if we'll see what happened. How are we supposed to change something that we don't expect?"

"But you do," Minato insisted. "You know that we're going to die in the near future. Even if we don't know the exact details, we're all going to train to be stronger than we are in the future to avoid disaster."

"Most importantly," Minato continued. "I hope that you'll learn to trust your comrades. I know that you care for them, I saw that when you realized that they were dead, but I want you to know that all of us, Obito included, have your back. Learn to trust us. Stop trying to do everything by yourself. Don't end up like…"

_Like your future depressed, apathetic, and slightly suicidal Anbu counterpart,_ Minato wanted to say, but he felt like that was too much for the young boy to process at the same time. Beside him, Obito was nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Yeah Bakakashi. I don't know what my older self was thinking, but obviously I trusted that my eye would be in good hands with you." At this, Obito crossed his arms, jerking his head off to the side in a show of arrogance. "I don't just give my Sharingan to anyone, you know."

That had succeeded in getting a small chuckle from Kakashi. "You don't even have your Sharingan yet."

"Details, details," Obito stated. "What matters is that I'll unlock it and it's going to be awesome because the eye already has three tomoes in it. Not everyone unlocks the Sharingan, but even fewer achieve three tomoes."

Kakashi didn't know that, but he nodded along and pretended like he had known all along. Even if they were sort of getting along now, there was no way that Kakashi was going to admit that Obito knew something that he didn't.

His pride simply won't allow for it.

A loud crash caught their attention. The three of them looked up to see that the fight had moved towards the exit. Currently, the boy's back was pressed against the glass of a tank while future Kakashi's hand was jammed into the tank right underneath the boy's arm. He retracted his arm. Water sprouted out of the tank.

Both of them jumped away from the tank, managing to avoid the majority of the water droplets. Yet the water continued to pour out, draining the entirety of the tank, leaving the dead human test subject to hang limply from the pipeline that it was connected to.

Standing on opposite sides of the spray, the two of them simply stared at each other.

"Abandon your mission," future Kakashi commanded, with a hard warning edge in his voice.

Future Kakashi got his answer immediately when the boy simply dropped to the ground, rolled underneath the spray of water and was back up on his feet in a matter of mere seconds. Wood sprouted from the length of his arm, forcing future Kakashi to backflip to avoid being pierced by his jutsu. The wood broke off from his arm; the boy was quick to race across the plank of wood.

At the end of the plank, the boy used his momentum to launch himself into the air, hands moving in quick successions while midair. Future Kakashi's Sharingan followed his movements.

Right as the boy executed his attack, a massive ball of lightning formed in future Kakashi's right hand. A screeching noise filled the room. Obito grimaced at the noise while Kakashi simply watched in awe at the destructive power that the lightning jutsu held. It tore straight through all of the boy's wood jutsus.

By the end of it, future Kakashi had the boy pressed against the ground, letting the lightning jutsu crackle near his throat.

Was this what his incomplete jutsu looked like when it was completed? Seeing it in action spurred Kakashi to vow that he was going to work on the jutsu even harder when they got back; he couldn't wait to use it in action.

"What kind of jutsu is that, Sensei?" Obito asked, sounding breathless.

Minato's eyes remained fixated on the duo, who was engaged in a conversation that was making Kakashi's counterpart grow more agitated by the minute.

"An original jutsu. I have never seen anything quite like it."

"I based it off of your Rasengan," Kakashi supplied. "I always wondered what would happen if I added my lightning nature to your Rasengan…"

Minato wanted to complete his student for his creative thinking, but the future captured his attention. Future Kakashi had allowed the Chidori to fizzle out in his fist. Using both hands, he grabbed the boy by the front of his shirt and shook him violently.

"You're not a tool, you got that?" future Kakashi hissed. "You have comrades that care about you. Obito taught me that."

Obito perked up at the mention of his name.

"But he's dead," the boy responded apathetically.

"His ideology will live on through me."

"Friend Killer Kakashi," the boy stated flatly. "That's what everyone in the Anbu calls you. Everyone knows that you are willing to kill a friend for the sake of a mission. That's what happened with the girl, isn't it?"

_The girl._ Upon hearing those words, Kakashi felt a chill go down his spine. It was Rin. Rin was the "friend" that he killed. Kakashi felt a sudden urge to vomit, but years of shinobi training kept the bile from rising to his throat.

That didn't make the news any easier to digest however.

"She's a true hero of the village unlike your leader Danzo who hides in the shadows in cowardice. Where was he when the Kyuubi attacked our village? Your wood style could have prevented the Fourth Hokage from dying."

Minato instantly paled. "Kyuubi attack? That means Kushina…" Minato faltered when he noticed that both of his students were staring at him. They didn't know about the Kyuubi, or at least they weren't supposed to.

Kakashi simply crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't worry Sensei, nothing will happen to Kushina san. We'll make sure of it."

Obito nodded vigorously in agreement, even though Minato knew that Obito hadn't been as sharp as Kakashi and put together the pieces. While Obito wasn't looking, Kakashi shot him a profound look, one assuring him that he would keep his promise.

Minato was grateful for the reassurance, no matter how minute.

At least he knew what was coming so he could better prepare for it.

"I'll prove it to you," future Kakashi stated haughtily before ramming an elbow into one of the pressure points in the boy's neck. The boy fell conscious, head rolling over to the side.

Future Kakashi stood up, sheathing his sword. He took one step to leave, then stopped. After shooting one last look at the young boy lying on the ground, future Kakashi slid the mask over his face once more.

"I swear I'll save you from Danzo's clutches."

With that parting vow, future Kakashi climbed to the exit, disappearing out of sight. Minato was torn between staying to supervise the unconscious boy, not that they could actually do anything to intervene if danger did come, and following after his student's counterpart.

The scroll made the choice for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> I based this chapter off of Kakashi's Anbu filler arc, but it's not exactly the same as what happened in anime because I didn't want to regurgitate anime line by line and Team Minato didn't get to witness the other things that happened so I wanted this scene to convey everything relevant. I hope you understand why I didn't pull the exact scene; I try to keep true to the show without being overly constrictive by having to copy line by line. 
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading! See you next time.  
> -MM


	5. Chapter 5

Having grown accustomed to the characteristic blinding white light, Minato was quick to squeeze his eyes shut before the rays shone at full force. With one hand on each of his student's shoulders, he felt the reassurance that they were still there.

And safe because he would never forgive himself if he let something happen to either of them.

Minato wasn't even quite sure how he lived with himself knowing for all that he was renowned for, he couldn't even protect two of his students. He supposed it might have something to do with the fact that he didn't get to live for much longer than they had.

A selfish part of him hoped that they would be able to go back to their world. If not, then at least a time where Kakashi was happier. He didn't know how much more idly standing by and watching his student suffer, even though it hadn't happened yet, Minato could take until he broke.

"Sensei?"

Minato blinked, registering that Obito was waving his hand rapidly in front of his face.

"We're here. What were you thinking so hard about anyways? I already called your name like three times."

Minato forced himself to smile. "Ah nothing to worry about. Konoha?"

That had effectively diverted Obito's attention away from him as the younger boy began to point out all of the changes to Konoha's busiest marketplace. As they wandered through the marketplace, Obito took the liberty of shouting out every time he saw a familiar face. Most of them were elderly that Minato presumed Obito met by helping them carry their groceries, if his excuses for being late were to be believed. Some Minato recognized himself, the familiar faces of the shopkeepers of stalls that he frequently visited himself albeit with a few more years on them.

They couldn't have jumped too far into the future, if Minato was right about the shopkeeper's age, but he needed to see future Kakashi to verify that. Speaking of…

"Where's me?" Kakashi deadpanned.

"Gosh, it's not all about you Bakakashi," Obito cried out, flailing his arms out in exaggeration. "For once we don't have to see you."

Kakashi frowned, but didn't respond to Obito's jab.

"Perhaps it is like the first time where we had to seek him out," Minato suggested. "You must be somewhere around here."

"Or there is something else that this scroll wanted us to see," Kakashi proposed, his finger pointing at a five year old boy who peered curiously at every single stall in the market. In the crowd, he was hardly noticeable, but the yellow hair and striking blue eyes stuck out to Team Minato.

Obito's mouth fell open, head jerking back and forth between the boy and his sensei so quickly that Kakashi wondered if he was going to suffer from whiplash.

"Sensei, he's your kid!"

A soft smile graced his lips as Minato watched his son weave expertly around the crowd's legs. Even through the noise from the crowd, he could hear his playful giggle as he made dodging the adults a game.

His smile fell when he realized that he was an orphan. If Kushina was still alive, there was no way that she would let him go to the market unattended.

And for the first time since they were pulled into the time traveling adventure, Minato cursed the fact that he couldn't touch anything other than his students. He so desperately wanted to reach over and give the boy a hug, to let him know that he loved him so much and that he was sorry for leaving him alone in this world, even if none of this had happened yet. Consequences for the future be damned.

A mask displayed at the window of one of the shops caught his son's eyes. The mask highly resembled the masks that the Anbu wore, but Minato could tell that it was a knockoff version. Still, a five year old kid wouldn't know the difference.

His son stepped inside the shop, presumably to buy the mask. Minato wanted to follow him, but he quickly found that it was unnecessary when his son was all but practically thrown out of the shop barely a minute since he stepped inside of it. Minato felt rage build up inside him as he saw his son land on his ass, letting out a painful whimper.

Kami, those watery blue eyes made Minato's heart ache.

The move hadn't gone unnoticed by the villagers, but rather to help him like he expected, the villagers simply formed a circle around the boy.

And watched as the shopkeeper screamed all sorts of insults at his son that his five year old mind was too underdeveloped to comprehend.

"Those bastards!" Obito exclaimed through gritted teeth. He made a show of rolling up sleeves like he was ready to fight the man, but his movements were halted by Kakashi, who had grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"You forget that you can't hurt him," Kakashi reminded him in a bored tone.

Obito huffed. "Even if my fists pass through him, it'll still make me feel better. How dare they treat Sensei's son like that? Sensei is the freaking Yondaime, for Kami's sake!"

"Don't come back to my store again, you demon!" the shopkeeper shouted, throwing the mask at his son. All around them, the villagers whispered under their breaths, pointing at the boy who was slowly picking himself off of the ground, clutching the mask tightly against his chest.

Yet the boy didn't make a move to leave; instead, his blue eyes took in the crowd that had formed around him. Frustrated, the shopkeeper stormed back inside of his shop and the crowd slowly began to disperse.

The ordeal was over.

Or so Minato thought until the shopkeeper came back outside with a broom in his hand. He raised it at his son, yelling at him to scram. When the boy remained frozen in his spot due to fear, the shopkeeper followed through with his threat, bringing the broom down.

Obito gasped. Kakashi felt uneasy watching the scene because it reminded him so much of his own past. Except the difference between him and the boy was that he wasn't a ninja at this point. Kakashi wasn't sure if he even knew how to fight back at all.

Instinctively, Minato darted forward, hand reaching to stop the broom's descent. He let out a string of colorful curses when his hand passed straight through the object. His momentum propelled him to pass straight through the shopkeeper. Minato whirled around just in time to see a kunai fly out of nowhere and land at the shopkeeper's feet.

The shopkeeper jerked back on instinct, withdrawing the broom back to his side as he warily scanned his surroundings.

Minato made a mental note to thank whoever it was who saved his son when he got back to his time.

The crowd gasped as a shinobi hopped down from the rooftop of the shop directly across the street to the mask store.

From head to toe, the man was clad in a white robe, one that Minato recognized to signal his status as an Anbu captain. The Anbu captain made the universal hand motion for the crowd to disperse. Even without words, the air of authority that the Anbu held terrified the crowd into submission.

From his position, Minato caught the poignant look that the Anbu had sent to the shopkeeper's way. Without a word, the shopkeeper dropped the broom and fled into the safety of his own shop. Lifting his son by the arm, the Anbu took off with him.

Team Minato followed the Anbu as he darted expertly across the rooftops at such a speed that made Minato impressed. All they could hear was the boy's shouts of joy as they practically flew across the rooftops.

The journey barely lasted three minutes. The Anbu landed on the railing of the balcony to an apartment, one hand wrapped around his son's waist while the other fiddled with the feeble lock on the window. In no time, the Anbu had pushed the window open, depositing the boy inside before climbing in after him.

The Anbu had shut the window behind him, but the three of them simply walked through the wall to get inside.

His son was firing all sorts of questions at the Anbu, completely unfazed that none of them were getting answered. While he sat on the bed, the Anbu made quick work of sweeping through the entire apartment. Along the way, the Anbu picked up all the trash from the floor, depositing it in the nearest trash bin.

When his son got tired of asking questions, he hopped down from the bed and followed the Anbu around while the Anbu was busy disabling all the elementary traps in the apartment while replacing them with higher quality ones. Ones that weren't too easily set off by a curious child and also not deadly enough to kill him in case he did.

Minato felt better knowing that there was someone watching out for his son, even if it was probably a mission from the Hokage.

Throughout the entire process, the Anbu didn't say a single word. Instead he allowed the chatter from the five year old boy to fill the void. And the Anbu was going to leave without a word until his son called him out.

"Mister, you're leaving?"

The Anbu halted, pausing for a moment before turning around to face the boy. A slight head nod was his son's only answer.

"I'm Naruto!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "What's your name?"

The Anbu remained silent for a few moments. "You can call me Hound."

"That's such a cool name. I wanna be as cool as you one day."

The Anbu didn't respond to Naruto's comment. Instead, he rummaged in his weapons pouch, pulling out a three pronged kunai. Minato's signature weapon.

Who on earth would carry around his kunai? Especially if he was the only one to utilize the Hiraishin and he was already dead at this point.

The blade of the kunai was dull, at least the Anbu was somewhat responsible, Minato noted, and Naruto took it eagerly, examining it from all angles.

"You should use this to protect yourself," the Anbu told him softly. "This is the Yondaime's kunai. He'll watch over you."

Before Naruto could ask anything else, the Anbu teleported from the apartment. The kunai was enough to capture Naruto's attention to prevent him from being too torn up about the Anbu's absence.

Minato only wished that there was some way that he could affirm the Anbu's statement, that he was watching over him. And Minato always would.

"I think that's me," Kakashi stated quietly. "The mask is the same one that I wore in the last time period."

It made sense. Minato always thought about giving his students one of his kunais for emergency situations - and now that they saw the future, that was the first thing he was doing when they got back - so it wasn't really a surprise that future Kakashi would have one. But the fact that future Kakashi carried around a dull blade spoke volumes to him.

A dull blade to Kakashi meant that it was useless. And Kakashi only carried practical things.

From the fact that Kakashi's eyes remained fixated on the dull kunai the entire time told Minato that he had come to the same conclusion.

"The time period didn't change, so does that mean we were supposed to follow him?" Obito piped in.

Minato shrugged. "We don't know where he went and since I can't feel anyone's chakra here, I can't track him down either."

"Probably the memorial stone," Kakashi suggested. "The other me spent a lot of time there."

Instantly, Minato recalled the broken thirteen year old boy who was plagued by nightmares day and night.

Minato nodded in agreement, motioning for his students to head out first. He took one last look at Naruto, his son in the future, before he took off after his students. Minato was determined to make things work this time around so that he could be in Naruto's life.

_And that's a promise,_ Minato vowed.

Future Kakashi wasn't at the memorial stone, but Kakashi convinced them to check the graveyard, like he somehow knew his future counterpart would be there. As expected, future Kakashi was there, kneeling in front of Minato and Kushina's gravestone. The hood of the cloak had been brushed back, revealing the silver locks. The Anbu mask had been removed, placed in front of their graves.

This Kakashi was a bit older than the previous, but not by much if Minato had to guess. Almost nothing had changed except his height. The haunting look that still remained in his eye sent chills down Minato's spine.

"Sorry I couldn't protect Naruto, Minato sensei," future Kakashi said softly.

_You did more than anyone else,_ Minato wanted to tell him.

"I talked to him for the first time today," future Kakashi continued, almost choking up on his own words. "He...he reminds me so much of you and Kushina."

"I think if you could come back from the dead, you'll hate me for not being in Naruto's life. You watched over me when I was younger, but I can't even repay you by watching over your son. I wish I could, but I just _can't._ " Future Kakashi's voice broke. "Everyone in the village hates him. The Sandaime, Jiraiya sama, and I are the only ones who see Naruto as Naruto, not as the Kyuubi container. But Jiraiya sama is out of the village and the Sandaime is too busy running the village to care for him.

"And then there's me who constantly requests as many long term missions outside of the village so I can avoid him. And you. And Kushina. And Obito. And Rin. But no matter how far I go, I still can't shake off the horrible feeling.

"I'm scared, Minato sensei. Everyone that I ever cared about is already dead. I'm scared that if I get too close to him, he'll be the next to die."

Minato's heart ached for him. He knew what it felt like to lose a member of his team and his parents, but he still had his sensei and his other teammate who retired from active duty. He still had Kushina and his students.

This Kakashi in front of him had no one. Absolutely no one. The void would eventually be filled, Hokage Kakashi was a testament to that, but he didn't know how many years he would suffer until he could reach that point.

None of his students were going to suffer this time around, Minato vowed. He would make sure of it.

The brokenness and vulnerability faded away the moment future Kakashi placed the Anbu issued mask back on his face. There he was again, the cold and hardened Anbu shinobi that Minato had gotten accustomed to seeing.

"Sensei, do we follow him?" Obito questioned, pointing in future Kakashi's direction. He was heading southwest, not in the direction back to the village or to the memorial stone, but towards…

Sakumo's grave.

Out of respect for his student, Minato didn't opt to follow him. Although there were a lot of things that Kakashi probably didn't want them to see that they had already seen, he knew his father was a topic that he didn't want to breach. Especially since Obito was completely oblivious to the story behind Sakumo's demise.

The future version may be ready to face his demons, but the current one was not.

It didn't matter anyways. The scroll whisked them to their next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> I really couldn't write a Team Minato time travel story without letting Minato meet his son, could I? :) This scene is completely made up, took some inspiration from filler where a shop keeper throws Naruto out of the shop. Sorry for all of the angst - I do have one light-hearted chapter coming up soon. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! See you soon.   
> -MM


	6. Chapter 6

The first thing that Minato registered was the loud, obnoxious music that blasted into his eardrums. When his eyes finally opened, he noted that the flashing multicolored lights were coming from the overhead lights rather than as an effect of time traveling.

And it was a good thing that they were only phantom beings of themselves; otherwise, his students would have long been trampled over by the crowd.

Minato did yearn for a change of pace to get away from the doom and gloom that seemed to follow one after another, but he certainly hadn't asked for this.

They had landed themselves in the middle of a bar or nightclub or wherever this place was called. With a hand on each of his student's shoulders, Minato pulled them away from the center of the dance floor all while trying to subtly distract Obito from looking at the people who were practically dry humping each other. It was only a product of Obito's curiosity, but Minato wasn't looking forward to having that talk with his genin student.

He needed to be a chunin before Minato would even think about breaching the subject.

Or preferably never, if Minato could help it. He would save that awkward experience for Naruto, so another ten or fifteen years of avoiding the problem.

Yup, that definitely sounded like a plan.

While Obito exhibited curiosity, Kakashi simply seemed completely unfazed by what was going around him. When they did happen to pass through a couple that was joined at the hip, Kakashi didn't give any outward reaction. In fact, Minato dared to say that his student looked even bored.

He didn't rule out the possibility that Kakashi already knew everything there was to know. Unlike Obito, he didn't have any remaining family members so Minato would have felt obligated to educate him in Sakumo's steed.

Minato let out a sigh of relief, partially at the thought of dodging a bullet and because they finally reached the bar, which was slightly less hectic than the dance floor. Plus the music wasn't as loud here, so Minato could actually hear himself think.

"Whoa Bakakashi, I didn't know you came to these kinds of places," Obito commented.

Kakashi shot him a glare. "I don't."

"Well your future self does," Obito argued back. "Every single time period we are in, you're always around, so you must be around here."

Obito was right and Kakashi knew it too, so he didn't bother arguing back. Instead, he began to scan the area. As the tallest one in the group, Minato had a better vantage point than his students so he used that to his advantage and began to sweep the area in hopes of spotting silver hair in the sea of mostly brown, black, and blond haired people. There was the occasional red head which instantly reminded Minato of Kushina, a few with blue hair, a handful of greens and oranges.

His eyes were drawn to a purple haired girl sitting in one of the corner booths; Minato had never seen hair color of that shade before. And it was just his luck that his ever elusive student was present.

Minato grinned, informing his students that he found future Kakashi. Trusting his students to keep up, Minato led the way, barreling straight through the crowd without any qualms.

Future Kakashi looked utterly bored. His hand held a glass of alcohol, but he resigned himself to only swishing around the alcohol. The glass never made it to his lips.

Aside from future Kakashi, there were five more people seated around the table, including the purple haired girl. There were four other males at the table; three of them Minato didn't recognize, but the fourth…

"Hey, isn't that the guy that Kakashi fought?" Obito asked, pointing at the boy who sat on the right side of future Kakashi. He was considerably older than they had last seen him; puberty had done him wonders in the few years they hadn't seen him. The baby fat was gone, giving him a sharper and more defined facial feature. He was taller now, not quite as tall as future Kakashi, but he had grown to be taller than the purple haired girl.

Most importantly, Minato noted that the blank look in his eyes were gone. Something else shone in those dark orbs: life.

"Cheers to Kakashi taichou for his tenth year serving in the Anbu Black Ops," one of the unnamed males proposed, the first to raise his glass. The others followed. Future Kakashi was the last to raise his glass, clinking it against theirs. Minato watched as future Kakashi pretended to drink the contents, but while they were all distracted, he simply tipped the glass so that a bit of the liquid sloshed onto the floor.

Ten years. Had it already been that long?

Minato glanced at his student, who was just a boy at the cusp of going through puberty, to the twenty something year old grown man in front of him. He had aged well, but he could still make out the hints of darkness that lurked in his eye that he carried throughout the years. Yet this version of him seemed to fare slightly better than the previous.

Perhaps it was the effect of being surrounded by his comrades. Minato smiled.

They went around the table, each of them noting something that was worth celebrating. Through the process Minato learned one of them had recently gotten married, they had just gotten off an extremely successful mission, another was newly released from the hospital and the purple haired hair had finally confessed to her crush.

Then it was future Kakashi's turn.

At first it seemed like he wasn't going to offer up anything, but slowly future Kakashi raised his glass into the air.

"Fox just turned nine," was all future Kakashi had to offer before he tipped his head backwards and poured the alcohol through his mask. The three unknown shinobis exchanged confused glances at future Kakashi's declaration, while smiles graced the wood style user and purple haired girl's faces.

Fox. Future Kakashi was referring to Naruto, wasn't he?

For the rest of the night, future Kakashi didn't touch another drop of alcohol. By the time they dispersed, the three other shinobis were the drunkest out of their group. Supporting each other, they stumbled their way home, while Tenzo and Yugao - Minato finally caught their names during the conversation - lingered behind.

Future Kakashi stuck his hands in the pockets of his shinobi pants as he stepped out into the cool night air. Sensing his two comrades weren't moving, he cocked his head to the side in a curious manner.

"Both of you aren't going to leave?"

"Ah no, no taichou! We just felt that it would be rude to leave before you did."

An amused chuckle slipped from future Kakashi's lips, much to all of Team Minato's shock. On Obito's end, it was because he always had the image ingrained into his head that Kakashi was a humorless being. For Minato and Kakashi it was the stark contrast between how this version acted compared to the last versions that they had seen.

Minato was glad that his student had somehow been able to find happiness in his life again.

"When we are off duty, all of us are of equal rank as jonins of Konoha. Just calling me Kakashi is fine."

Tenzo looked mildly affronted that he would even suggest that. "I don't care. For me, you'll always be my taichou."

"Yeah! You don't know how much time I spent trying to convince Hokage sama to reassign me to your squad, taichou."

Future Kakashi sighed, waving them off. "If that's what you want. Look it's getting late-"

Future Kakashi never got the opportunity to finish the sentence as the emergency alarm suddenly blared throughout the village. For civilians, it was a warning to remain indoors. Depending on the situation, genin and chunins were to remain on standby while jonins went to the frontlines.

Except it wasn't a normal alarm. It was a Code Black, signalling threat of the highest degree and that required all members of the Anbu Black Ops to be present.

Immediately, future Kakashi morphed into his role as captain, motioning his two subordinates to follow him. They raced across the rooftops at neck breaking speed towards the Hokage Tower.

His students struggled to keep up with the speed of elite Anbu. Even Kakashi's speed at this point in time was considerably lacking compared to his future counterpart, so Team Minato arrived five minutes later than they had. By the time they were there, all of the available Anbu personnels were already stationed on the rooftop of the Hokage Tower, all clad in their Anbu uniform.

"What's going on?" Obito asked.

He got his answer a moment later when the Sandaime opened his mouth to speak, cutting right to the chase.

"The entire Uchiha clan was massacred."

Obito emitted a strangled noise from the back of his throat upon the reception of the news. The lines in Minato's forehead creased as he pondered who would wield such incredible power to take down one of the strongest clans in Konoha.

Better yet, why?

"Who?" both versions of Kakashi questioned at the same time. Among the Anbu force, future Kakashi had been the only one who was brave enough to voice his thoughts.

Hiruzen let out a long sigh. "Itachi Uchiha. Your mission is to scour the Uchiha compound for survivors."

_Though there likely isn't any to be found,_ Minato tacked on in his head. The entire Anbu force scattered at the Hokage's command. Kakashi instinctively moved to follow his older counterpart, but Minato held him back while he kept an eye on Obito's condition.

"Are you alright, Obito?"

Obito shook his head. "I don't understand. Why would Itachi massacre our entire clan? Does that mean we have to kill him when we get back to prevent this from happening?"

Minato frowned; that thought certainly hadn't crossed his mind at all.

"There must be a valid reason for his actions. If we can figure out the reason, we can try to stop him that way."

"What if there's not?" Obito pressed on. "Or what if we don't find out the reason?"

Minato didn't have an answer for him.

"So we should follow my older self, dumbass," Kakashi stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Every single that we waste here could potentially mean missing an important piece of information."

Minato didn't particularly like Kakashi's choice of words or tone of voice, Obito was in quite a fragile state at the moment, but he had to admit that his student was right. Still, he didn't want to be the one to push Obito.

Finding out his entire clan was killed by one of their own definitely wasn't an easy thing to stomach.

"Okay, let's go then," Obito announced.

"Are you sure that you're up to this?"

"Yeah. It hasn't happened yet, so it's okay. Plus we know that I died before this so I won't accidentally stumble upon my body." There was a faux cheerfulness in his voice, but Minato pretended to be convinced and allowed Obito to lead the way to the Uchiha compound.

And for the first time since they had embarked on the journey, Obito appeared to be hurting on the inside. Not when he found out he wasn't Hokage or when he realized he was dead or that Minato and Rin were also dead, but at the fact that in just one night, a few short hours, the entirety of his clan was gone.

Just like that.

They found future Kakashi among the many Anbu personnels that were assigned to carrying body bags out of the compound. Rows and rows of body bags neatly laid across the grass near the entrance of the compound.

Future Kakashi and Tenzo had just set down another body bag.

"Kakashi taichou, Itachi san…" Tenzo whispered.

"I failed him," future Kakashi murmured, his fists clenched tightly at his side. "I could have stopped him."

"No one could have known," Tenzo offered in a comforting manner.

"I saw all the damn signs," future Kakashi responded viciously. "After Shisui's death, I saw all the signs, but I ignored them because I didn't want to bring myself to believe that Itachi was becoming another me."

"He didn't become you. You never killed your clan."

"You said so yourself all those years ago didn't you? They call me Friend Killer Kakashi."

"But you saved me. Instead of killing me, you chose to go through all of that trouble to save me."

Future Kakashi completely ignored what Tenzo said.

"God damnit Tenzo," future Kakashi muttered. "I'm a terrible taichou. He's the second Uchiha that I failed. I...I'm not fit to lead."

And just like that, Team Minato watched as a somewhat healed Kakashi careen towards the path of darkness once more.

Kakashi just couldn't catch a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> Inspiration came from rewatching the Anbu Kakashi arc, especially the part where Itachi and Kakashi go on a mission together. I always figured that they would have a mutual understanding of each other since they are pretty similar, hence the reaction at the end.
> 
> Last gloomy chapter, next one will be fun! Thanks for reading. See you soon!  
> -MM


	7. Chapter 7

Future Kakashi was being followed. That was the first thing that Minato noticed once he gained his bearings well enough to be sensitive to his surroundings. Yet future Kakashi didn't seem to be all that concerned as he languidly strolled down the street with his hands tucked into the pockets of his shinobi pants.

When future Kakashi rounded the corner, three figures streaked after them.

Kids. That might have explained why future Kakashi was so relaxed, although it didn't explain why three kids were following him. And one of them was his son, Naruto.

Naruto was at the head of the group, back pressed against the fence. Slowly, he inched his face forward to peer over the corner. A pink haired girl was behind, standing on her tippy toes in an effort to see over him while the dark haired boy craned his neck as far as he could.

"There's an Uchiha!" Obito shouted, pointing at the back of the dark haired boy's shirt. Sure enough, the Uchiha crest was displayed proudly on the back of the blue shirt.

"Didn't the Uchihas die in the massacre?" Kakashi murmured to himself.

"Perhaps not everyone died," Minato speculated. "This kid couldn't have been that old so maybe he was spared."

A frustrated shout escaped Naruto's mouth as he marched out into the street. Throwing his hands up in the air, Naruto stalked back to the Uchiha's side, getting right up in his face.

"Sasuke, it's all your fault!" Naruto exclaimed. "You shouldn't have made so much noise."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, while crossing his arms over his chest. "Dobe, if anyone was being loud, it was you."

The pink haired girl intervened, stepping in to separate the two of them. "Hey, cut it out! If we want to see Kakashi sensei's face, we shouldn't be arguing. We need to come up with a better plan."

"I'm a sensei?" Kakashi said, disbelief present in his voice. He looked like he couldn't decide if he should be horrified or excited at that fact. Probably leaning towards the former if Minato knew his student. After all besides being skilled, Kakashi's qualities were the furthest thing from being suitable to become a jonin sensei.

Okay, but people change. Maybe future Kakashi did change for the better.

Meanwhile, Obito bursted out laughing. He was laughing so hard that he doubled over, cradling his stomach. Through his bursts of laughter, Minato could make out a couple of words. "Kakashi...sensei…joke."

Kakashi had enough of Obito's antics and socked him in the back of the head. "At least this means that I made it to jonin."

Obito stood up, making a big show of pretending to wipe nonexistent tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Those kids are so unlucky to have you as their sensei!"

"Now, now Obito, I'm sure Kakashi will be a great sensei in the future." It was times like this that Minato realized how much he had taken his female student for granted; Rin would always be the first to step in so that Minato didn't have to.

When Kakashi's team was finally done planning, Team Minato followed after them. Minato had to admit that it took them an awfully long time to track down future Kakashi; they had gotten bored of trailing after a group of genins and went searching for future Kakashi instead.

Only to find that he remained rooted in his position in front of the memorial stone for the past three hours.

And his students still couldn't find him.

That told Minato two things: either the team was newly formed or future Kakashi was still the type to keep everything to himself. If the conversation that they had overheard with Hokage Kakashi was any indication, it seemed that he would never open up.

Minato mentally promised to work on that when they got back, bottling up all his feelings was what led to his state of depression. He had allowed his student to get away with it after Sakumo's death, but future repercussions hadn't been on his mind back then.

Maybe being accidentally pulled on this trip wasn't too horrible after all.

Obito snickered in amusement as future Kakashi spread a scroll across the grass, summoning a scarecrow, followed by an additional set of traditional jonin gear. Puzzled as to why future Kakashi would even carry a scarecrow around, he watched as the older version of his student quickly assembled his disguise.

From the backside, it certainly looked like Kakashi.

Mere moments after future Kakashi took off, Minato spotted the pink haired girl from earlier settled herself in the bushes. And watched. And waited. And watched. And waited. And watched. And waited.

Until her patience ran out, an impressive hour and a half streak, and she hopped out of her hiding position, marching right up to fake Kakashi. The look of horror written on her face upon the realization was the highlight of the entire stakeout.

Minato tried to hide his amusement. Who knew Kakashi had a penchant for pranking his students?

Their third attempt came in the form of treating their sensei to a meal after spending two hours scouring through the village to track him down only to find that he had been lounging on the branches of a tree all along with a book in his hand. Minato only needed to take one look at the cover, the glaring orange gave it away, to be completely horrified.

Of all the people, Minato didn't expect Jiraiya sensei to get through to Kakashi!

Minato let out a sigh of relief when there were no shouts of indignation. He had maneuvered himself to block Obito's view; it was times like this he was grateful for his tall stature. As for his version of Kakashi, his mind raced for a way to divert his attention when he saw Kakashi move to crane his head upwards, only to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

"So what do you think of your future students?"

"They're a bunch of idiots," Kakashi deadpanned. "Your son included."

The racing of his heart calmed down when he saw future Kakashi snap the book shut in his hand, tucking it away into his weapon's pouch.

Why was such an impractical thing taking up space in his weapon's pouch? Wasn't Kakashi a stickler for only carrying around practical things? Perhaps, that would remain one of the unsolved mysteries in the world, just like the secret of what was under his mask, as Minato couldn't exactly ask future Kakashi about his thought process.

"I don't even know why they're wasting their time trying to see under my mask," Kakashi was saying. "It's just a face."

Minato had an advantage per say, in the fact that he had seen Kakashi's face before when he was younger. Although he had to admit, he was slightly curious to see what his student would grow up to look like.

Okay, maybe he was really curious. Naruto's affinity to curiosity probably came from him.

"What do you mean it's just a face?" Obito exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi. "Nobody knows what you look like so obviously we're curious!"

The _duh_ had been evident in his tone of voice, but Kakashi shrugged like he couldn't care less.

"Not my problem."

Of course, Kakashi saw his own face every single day so obviously he couldn't see the appeal. Secretly, Minato was rooting for the genin team to succeed as he watched the three genins try to convince future Kakashi to come down from the tree and get dinner with them.

Slightly exasperated, future Kakashi conceded and hopped down from the tree. Walking at the front of the group back towards the village, he missed the sinister grins on each of the genin's faces.

That didn't mean he wasn't suspicious of what they were up to. In fact, future Kakashi was very suspicious as he tried to concoct various theories of what his students were up to.

Future Kakashi was seated on the left end of the booth, followed by Sasuke, the pink haired girl and Naruto. Team Minato settled themselves behind Naruto, partly because Minato just wanted an excuse to hover around his son and partly because they weren't keen squishing themselves between future Kakashi and the wall. Sure, they would phase through the wall, but that wasn't a thought that any of them wanted to get used to.

Ever.

When Teuchi set the bowl of ramen down in front of future Kakashi, it amplified Minato's own craving for ramen. It was all Kushina's fault that she had gotten him addicted to this stuff.

Obito was practically the fourth member of Kakashi's genin squad, he copied their movements and had leaned forward, craning their heads to get the best vantage point. Eyes wide and completely glued on future Kakashi, they followed as future Kakashi grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the container. At this point, Obito's fists were balled tightly in his hands. Beside him, Minato noted that Kakashi had subtly shifted so he could join in on the view.

Minato raised an eyebrow.

Oh, so his student was mildly curious too.

Future Kakashi broke the chopsticks in half, muttering "Itadakimasu."

It seemed like everything was happening in slow motion as future Kakashi's left hand moved to his face. The tip of his finger hooked on his mask at his nose, ready to slide it down his face…

Then a group of kids came out of nowhere, jumping on top of Team Kakashi. Indignant cries rang out from Kakashi's genin as their moment was ruined. Although the group had phased through Obito, they had effectively blocked both his and Kakashi's view.

Minato, the tallest of the group, could see right over their heads.

By the time the group settled down, future Kakashi had set his chopsticks down onto the bowl. The mask was already back up in place.

"That's so unfair!" Obito cried out. "We were so close to seeing his face!"

The genins noted Teuchi and Ayame were the only ones that had seen future Kakashi's face and their reaction only incited their curiosity even further. What they didn't know was that there was a third.

Kakashi didn't say anything, but Minato knew him well enough to read the disappointment on his face. Hmm, it looked like his student embodied some sort of curiosity towards his future self.

While Obito ranted, Minato bit the bottom of his lip in an effort to form a smug smile on his face. Who wouldn't be? After all, he had just witnessed one of Konoha's well kept secrets. All without any effort on his part.

Kakashi being Kakashi noticed.

"You saw, didn't you?" Kakashi accused.

Minato shot him a cryptic smile.

Obito practically jumped on him at the news. "Sensei! Sensei! Can you tell us what his face looked like? Or better yet, perform a henge!"

The henge wasn't a bad idea, but Minato wasn't sure if he could do his entire face justice since he had only gotten a glimpse of the side of his face. However if the other half of his face was anything like the half that Minato saw, it was safe to say that Kakashi had grown up well.

Rather than shooting him a warning look, like Minato expected, Kakashi was simply staring at him, giving off the air that he was utterly bored. He kept his facial expressions neutral, but even he couldn't hide the curiosity brimming in his dark eyes.

Well then, Minato could have a bit of fun.

"Well, I don't know about that, Obito...it would really be an invasion of Kakashi's privacy wouldn't it?" Minato shot a sly glance towards the boy in question. He didn't give any outward indication that he was affected by it in the least, yet if Kakashi was truly against it, he would have voiced it out, no hesitation.

But currently? Kakashi was stalling.

"There's nothing special," Kakashi settled on and Minato couldn't decide if he was giving him permission or not.

"Ahhhh, Sensei! Just ignore him and show me! I promise if you show me, I won't ever be late to training again!"

That was certainly a tempting promise. No more of having to tell Obito the wrong time to trick him into arriving on time and no more of having to wait three hours for him to show up? That sounded like a dream.

Only...Minato saw Kakashi's curiosity growing by the minute. He could hardly stay still, clenching and unclenching his fists unconsciously. While Kakashi tried not to stare at him, he kept sneaking glances every other second.

While Minato loved both of his students, they were often the source of his many headaches. Perhaps, it was time he got a little payback for all of the times they suffered because of him.

Minato mustered his most innocent expression, injecting faux cheerfulness in his voice, "It's just a face."

Kakashi looked completely stunned to have his words thrown right back at him while Obito's mouth fell open. Inwardly, Minato relished in both of their reactions.

And the final step to extracting his revenge?

Show Rin when they returned.

Kami, Minato was enjoying this too much for his own good. Perhaps he should take a page or two from future Kakashi's book, pranking his students was too entertaining to pass up.

The ideas didn't stop there.

The next day, future Kakashi went straight to the Hokage office, demanding - yes, demanding, the longest mission possible. Without questions, Hiruzen granted his request. After all, it was so rare to see future Kakashi take an initiative in anything since his departure from the Anbu and there just happened to be a pile of unwanted S ranked missions that he had been dying to get rid of.

Of course, future Kakashi didn't do things for free; there was always a price.

After tucking his recently acquired mission scroll into his weapon's pouch, future Kakashi turned to Hiruzen for another request.

"Ah Hokage sama?"

"Yes?" he responded warily.

"What's the most tedious and most nauseating D rank mission that you have?"

And that was how Team Kakashi found themselves on a slew of the worst D ranked missions on the mission roster for the entirety of the following month, including ten of the same infamous rescue Tora the cat mission. By the time of Kakashi's return, they had been run so ragged that there wasn't any extra energy to plot anymore "see under the mask" plans.

Served them right for stalking him.

Minato mentally filed that tactic away in the back of his mind although it was unfortunate that his team was beyond taking D ranked missions. Even if he wasn't with them, his team was more than capable of taking C ranked missions now that Kakashi was chunin.

Maybe his next genin team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> I wrote this chapter with the intention of showcasing troll Kakashi, but somehow it turned into a troll Minato story haha. Hope you had as much fun reading this one as I did writing it. I based it off the original "see Kakashi's face" filler episode, but I changed some things for the sake of brevity so they don't have to follow Team 7 through the entire mission. 
> 
> If you're interested in more troll Kakashi/troll Minato, I wrote an AU piece featuring both characters (completely unrelated to time travel). It's called Sensei vs Student if you want to click my profile to check it out.
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> -MM


	8. Chapter 8

When the light subsided, the first thing that Minato witnessed was future Kakashi speed walking towards the memorial stone with his two Anbu guards hustling after him. This time, future Kakashi was decked out in Hokage gear, including the robes and the hat.

Looks like they were back to seeing Hokage Kakashi.

Hokage Kakashi stopped in front of the memorial stone, his Anbu guards catching up to him three seconds later. Upon closer inspection, Minato recognized those two guards.

Purple hair. The Yugao girl. And brown hair. Possibly that Tenzo boy.

"Hokage sama, you can't just run off like that!"

"Maa, don't call me that, Tenzo. Just Kakashi is fine." So Minato had been right. A lighthearted feeling bubbled up inside him at the realization that future Kakashi really did find comrades that cared about him after all.

"Senpai, you're going to be late to your celebration."

Hokage Kakashi waved him off. "That can wait."

Tenzo sputtered. "But-"

Yugao was the one that cut in this time. "Kakashi taichou is always late anyways. Besides, I believe that he wants to inform Obito of the news. After all, becoming Hokage was his dream, wasn't it?"

Hokage Kakashi snapped his fingers. "Sharp as always, Yugao. But there is one more thing as well."

Hokage Kakashi knelt down at the base of the memorial stone. Lifting the hat from his head, he set it down in the grass next to him. Bowing his head, Hokage spent the next few moments paying his respects to the fallen.

Once he lifted his head back up, Hokage Kakashi reached in his robes, rummaging around for something before revealing that he had successfully retrieved a kunai. Confusion was very present among all of them at what Hokage Kakashi planned to do with that kunai, until they watched him lower the tip of the kunai to the granite base of the memorial stone.

"Whoa Hokage sama!" Tenzo interjected, quickly making his way to Hokage Kakashi's side. His hand grasped the Hokage's wrist, halting his movements. "What are you doing?"

Hokage Kakashi gave him the side eye. "What do you think I'm doing?"

"Why can't you just submit the name and let the people in charge of carving the names do it instead? You don't have to have to do it yourself."

The edge of his eyes crinkled, drawing Minato's attention to the fact that his left eye wasn't closed. In fact, his left eye was black?

What happened to the Sharingan?

"Ahh, the name that I want to carve would never get approved."

"Who?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

Utter silence. Shrugging Tenzo's grasp off of his wrist, Hokage Kakashi proceeded to messily carve Itachi's name into the granite.

Obito's mouth fell wide open, while Kakashi's forehead was creased, like he was deep in thought. At the moment, all they knew about Itachi Uchiha was that he had been the one to kill the entire Uchiha clan, yet there was at least ten years in between that incident to the current time.

Maybe something changed.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tenzo hesitantly asked.

Hokage Kakashi shrugged. The carving didn't stop. "I spent three days digging in the Hokage archives before I finally found the files that confirmed what the masked man told us. Konoha's Elders have admitted to it as well."

"But to carve his name here?" There was a hint of incredulity in Tenzo's voice.

"Of all the people, Itachi's name deserves to be on here the most," Hokage Kakashi responded wistfully. "Back when he was on Team Ro, Itachi once told me that he believed that the true mark of a shinobi is one who protects peace from the shadows. And that's exactly what he did."

"Think about it," Hokage Kakashi continued, finishing the last stroke of the carving on the stone. "If not for his actions, we would have been embroiled in civil war. Our forces will be weakened and it would have been a signal for others to attack, especially Iwa since they are still bitter from the Third Great War. The difference is that we don't have the Yondaime to take down a thousand of their shinobis this time."

A thousand shinobis? That sounded like an exaggeration to Minato, except Kakashi wasn't the type to exaggerate. Perhaps he was in the future.

"He protected the future. Not many would have been able to do what Itachi has done. To slaughter the entirety of his clan and to live his remaining days shunned as a traitor and enemy of the very place he was trying to protect."

"I see," Tenzo said. "Even though we were both on the same team, you were the only one to ever understand him."

Hokage Kakashi stood up, tucking the kunai underneath his robes. He turned around to face Tenzo, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be so torn up about it. You were just a kid when Itachi joined our team. Besides, I only understood him because both of us always knew too many things for our own good. Sometimes, ignorance is a bliss."

Tenzo let out a half hearted chuckle. "But Senpai, your carving doesn't align with the rest of the names."

Hokage Kakashi made a show of peering back down at his handiwork, eyebrow raised as if he was seeing it for the first time. He shrugged.

"Good. His name will stick out then. Yugao, how long has the celebration gone on for?"

"Thirty three minutes," was the answer.

"Ah good. I'm still early then," Hokage Kakashi said with faux cheerfulness in his voice.

Minato shuddered. He didn't think he would ever get used to the idea that Kakashi actually enjoyed being late on purpose.

Obito gulped. "He's even worse than me. At least I'm not late on purpose."

Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest, but didn't dignify Obito's comment with a response. How could he? There was literally nothing that he could say for his future self's defense, not that he wanted to. All Kakashi knew was that he was determined to not turn out to be like...him. His future self was too eccentric for his own tastes.

Hokage Kakashi strolled away from the memorial stone. When Tenzo inquired where his next destination was, Hokage Kakashi simply pretended not to hear him and continued walking faster. Team Minato rushed to follow him.

Unsurprisingly, Hokage Kakashi's next destination was the cemetery. Minato was starting to miss the time frame where they found the other Hokage Kakashi on top of the Yondaime's stone head. Knowing that he and Obito were dead and being constantly reminded of it were two completely different things.

This time, Tenzo and Yugao didn't follow. Instead, they lingered near the edge of the cemetery, giving Hokage Kakashi some space as he meandered down the rows of headstones until he stopped in front of the one that he was looking for.

Rin Nohara.

"Sorry I didn't bring flowers," Hokage Kakashi started. "I left the ceremony right as it ended."

Hokage Kakashi paused for a moment.

"Ah I know, if you were there, you would have scolded me for leaving right as it ended. But I couldn't help it. Being there...it made me think that I shouldn't have been the one standing there. It should have been Obito."

Obito began to tear up at Hokage Kakashi's heartfelt words. Pushing his goggles up, Obito hastily wiped away the tears before his teammate saw him and made fun of him for it.

"If not that, then it reminded me that there wouldn't even be a Sixth Hokage if Minato sensei was still alive. He wouldn't even be that old, perhaps another ten years until he retires."

"I don't know why, but every time I have self doubts whether I am strong enough to protect the village without the Sharingan, I hear your voice in my head encouraging me. In part, you were the one who propelled me to take that leap of faith. That, and Tsunade sama was being super pushy so that she could retire."

"Arigatou, Rin."

That was all that Hokage Kakashi had to say to her. For the remainder of the time, Hokage Kakashi simply lingered in front of her gravestone, basking in the silence.

"Wow, who knew you could be so sappy, Bakakashi," Obito nonchalantly commented. Kakashi gave him a side eyed glare.

"Well it's good that you care about your teammates, Kakashi," Minato interjected. "Remember, your comrades are important."

Kakashi huffed. He didn't need a lecture from his sensei; he had seen it himself how losing his comrades destroyed him in the future. All Kakashi knew was that he was going to train harder when they got back, so he could better prevent his comrades from dying.

Especially that crybaby Obito.

Then none of this would have to happen. In fact, Kakashi agreed with his future self. Obito should have stayed alive to accomplish his own dreams. And keep his own eye because Kakashi squirmed at the thought of having another person's eyeball in his own skull.

Another figure approached Hokage Kakashi. Even from a distance, the characteristic blonde hair stuck out so much that all of them could immediately identify the person to be Naruto.

Naruto had certainly grown up. He was much taller now, not quite as tall as Hokage Kakashi, but there was only half a head of height difference between them now. The orange on his clothing was still ever present, but mixed with the black made the orange more muted. The most noticeable change was the way that his sleeve hung loosely on his right arm.

The bottom half of his arm was gone.

Hokage Kakashi didn't acknowledge Naruto's presence as he walked up to him.

"Kakashi sensei. Congrats on becoming Hokage."

"Naruto," Hokage Kakashi greeted. During the entire exchange, his eyes never left Rin's headstone. "I thought you would be at the celebration,"

Naruto scoffed. "I knew that you would be late so I figured I would pay a visit to Mom and Dad and…" Naruto trailed off, choking on the last word.

"Neji," Naruto managed to force out.

"Ah."

A few moments of silence stretched between the two of them before Naruto spoke up again.

"Ano Sensei, how do you...you know…?"

"Get over their deaths?" Hokage Kakashi suggested. Naruto nodded.

"You don't," Hokage Kakashi stated bluntly. "I told you that I'll never let my friends die and that's also something that I wanted to convince myself of. There are many friends I was unable to protect so far. That's why every time I swear that I'll protect them, but then I still happen to face the truth of when I'm not able to do it. You have to take that 'wound' with you forever. That's why we're the one to endure. We are shinobi. Don't ever forget that."

Naruto's eyes flickered to the headstone. "Are you referring to Rin?"

Hokage Kakashi nodded. "Obito made me promise one thing before he died, and that was to protect Rin. For many years after I broke my promise to him, I didn't want to face the truth. I always blamed myself for being so incompetent to the point where I couldn't save her, but it was with my bare hands that I killed her."

All the pieces of the puzzle finally slid into place for Kakashi. It had been exactly as he suspected.

Obito was stunned into silence.

"Zetsu told me that it was all a set up," Naruto added softly. "She was meant to die either way."

Hokage Kakashi nodded. "I know. It used to kill me thinking about all of the 'what ifs' and having nightmares every night where I would see myself killing her again and again, but at some point, you just have to live with it. Once I finally learned to admire her courage to die rather than to bring harm to the village, I finally found a semblance of peace in my life. Same with Sensei...even if I was by his side during the attack, nothing would have changed. I would have only gotten myself killed."

Hokage Kakashi patted Naruto lightly on the shoulder.

"As long as you keep dwelling on the 'what ifs,' you'll become a hostage of the past. Free yourself and move forward. That's what Neji and Jiraiya sama would have wanted you to do."

Jiraiya was dead too? Minato couldn't believe it; how was the future so bleak? It seemed like there was a never ending list of people who he knew that were dead that it surprised him that Kakashi was still alive in the future.

At least one of them made it to see the future.

"Thanks Kakashi sensei. I think that I understand it now."

"You've done well. If it wasn't for you, I would have to kill Sasuke to stop him."

Team Minato shuddered at his confession. There was certainly another story behind it, but none of them really wanted to know. They had seen enough depressing things during the trip to last them a lifetime.

Naruto smiled. "Ahhh, about Sasuke…?"

Hokage Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, you'll be able to spar with him again. I'm going to pardon him in a couple of days."

"Really, you can do that? The council won't mind?"

Hokage Kakashi waved him off. "Do you really think I care about what a couple of old geezers think? Besides, I already carved Itachi's name in the memorial stone, so pardoning Sasuke shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Naruto laughed. "I like the way that you think, Sensei."

"And if they give me any trouble, I'll just remind them of the time they turned a blind eye when Danzo assigned me a mission to assassinate Lord Third. Trust me, I have loads of blackmail over their heads that I'm going to use to oust them from their positions."

"He did?" Naruto and Obito asked at the same time.

"Hmm, did I ever tell you about the time when I was in the Root Foundation?"

"The same place where Sai came from?" Naruto questioned.

"Ah yes, that's the one. I was under Danzo's command at that time and he manipulated me into hating Hiruzen sama. Anyways, he did a lot of shady things and I'm going to go through the records and dig them all out."

"He did all of that and he almost became Hokage?"

Minato didn't even want to imagine what Konoha would have looked like under Danzo's reign. Good thing his student became Hokage instead.

"Ah well, so we should be grateful that Sasuke got to him just in time," Hokage Kakashi mused. "Not that I would mind if I got the opportunity to get him myself. After all, it was quite annoying how he sent so many of his people to kill me for my Sharingan, but that's a story for another time."

"Oh yes, the celebration. I think I'm late enough to make a grand entrance, right?"

"Forget about the celebration, Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "I want to hear more stories about your past. They sound so cool!"

"Maybe next time." In other words, never. "I can't not show up to my own celebration. Sakura would probably kill me."

"It's not like you haven't been dead before."

Hokage Kakashi shot him a wry look. Minato wasn't sure he wanted to know what Naruto meant by that comment. Maybe he had been wrong...Kakashi did die, but he had magically been lucky enough to be revived? That didn't even make sense in his head.

"Being dead isn't fun."

"I know. I almost died during the war too."

"Listen Naruto, it's not a competition to see who died more times."

Hokage Kakashi began walking away from Rin's grave. Naruto followed him. All throughout the trip out of the cemetery, the two of them exchanged lighthearted quips at each other. Naruto was relentless at trying to get Hokage Kakashi to tell more stories about his past, while Kakashi was equally stubborn at remaining tight lipped.

If Sakura asked why he didn't arrive until the last ten minutes of the celebration, let it be known it was completely Naruto's fault. He didn't expect on the first day of being Hokage he would be chased throughout the entire village by the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja.

But he supposed that he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!
> 
> There's one quote from manga that basically inspired the entire chapter. It starts off with "I told you that I never let my friends die..." and the rest of the chapter is all made up. I always imagine that Kakashi would be the rebellious Hokage type. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> -MM


	9. Chapter 9

After yet another yank through time, Minato found himself stumbling when his feet touched the ground. Instinctively, his hand shot forward to brace himself. The palm of his hand met a wooden like structure, a bookcase?

When the light finally subsided, Minato slowly slid his eyes open to register that they were in a dimly lit room. His eyes flickered to his hand, finally registering that his hand didn't pass straight through the bookcase. After putting more pressure against the bookcase, Minato confirmed that it wasn't just a trick of the light.

He didn't phase through it.

His students hadn't been so lucky. Obito was sprawled on the floor, moaning as he cradled his head gently with his hand. Kakashi was in a sitting position, body bent forward as he slowly rubbed his forehead to ease the pain.

Ah, guess Minato had gotten lucky that his body was used to teleporting through space from his Hiraishin.

Looks like they were back in the Hokage archives.

Minato spotted the time travel scroll laid out on the floor. Bending over to pick it up, he quickly rolled up the scroll and tucked it back into its rightful place on the shelf, lest they had another incident. There had been some gains from the trip, but Minato was sure that they didn't need another experience.

The next time, they could possibly stumble upon themselves actually dying.

Minato could do without seeing how he died, seeing that he planned to live for another fifty years, thank you very much.

And well, if they embarked on another trip, Kushina would most certainly kill him for being late for dinner. Speaking of...Minato hoped not too much time had passed in this world.

Hauling Obito and Kakashi to their feet, Minato dragged them out of the Hokage's archives. All throughout the process, Obito groaned each time Minato jerked him too hard and while Minato was sympathetic, he needed to know what time it was.

That would be crucial to deciding whether or not they survived until tomorrow.

Depositing his two students in the hall to nurse their head, Minato speed walked to the nearest window located right at the end of the hall. Peering through the glass, he noted that there was just a sliver of the sun that was left to be seen.

Many days in the time traveling experience translated to a couple of hours in real time, if it even was still the same day.

Kami, Minato hoped that wasn't the case.

By the time Minato made his way back to his students, Kakashi felt well enough to stand up on his feet. Obito forced himself to stand up, but had to brace himself with the wall as his legs wobbled beneath him.

"What's the verdict?" Kakashi asked.

"A few hours if we are lucky," Minato told him.

Kakashi was quick to catch onto his meaning. "There was supposed to be a celebration at the park today. We can go there to check if it's still today."

They never made it to the park. On the way to the park, they passed by Minato's home. Minato guessed that Kushina must have felt his chakra signature coming because the door flung open when they were still three houses away from his eyes. Kushina stormed out of the house with fury, glaring viciously at the three of them.

"Where the hell have you been?" Kushina demanded, waving her ladle menacingly at them. When she began marching towards them, Minato resisted the urge to slowly back away. Out of the corner of his eye, Minato spotted Obito slinking away to seek refuge behind him. Kakashi was trying his hardest to not look Kushina in the eyes.

"Ah well, you see," Minato began nervously, holding both of his hands in front of him, palms facing her.

"You're three hours late!" Kushina exclaimed. "I expected that from Obito, not from you." At least Minato could confirm that it was still the same day.

"Or Kakashi," Kushina quickly added as her eyes swung to the silver haired boy. It was hardly visible, but Minato could have sworn that Kakashi gulped.

Reaching behind him, Minato grabbed Obito's arm and dragged him so that he was in front of him. Obito yelped in protest, but settled down when he realized that Kushina's eyes were directly on him.

"You see, it's Obito's fault that we got held up," Minato explained. In all fairness, it was Obito who activated that scroll.

"Really?" Kushina questioned, bending down. Her face was right in front of Obito's, so close that their noses could almost brush against each other.

"Ah yeah, uh."

Where were the excuses when he needed them?

"Sensei took a detour to get something from the Hokage archives and then we saw the Hokage. The Hokage was giving us all these life lessons; it was really long and boring, but it would have been rude to leave, you know, so we kind of just sat there listening to stories about his childhood and how it shaped him to become the shinobi that he is today. And you know that I want to be Hokage one day, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the role...and I guess we lost track of time?"

Obito's response came out in such a jumbled mess that even Minato wasn't sure what he was saying. In a way, he supposed that they did meet the Hokage...just not the one that Kushina was thinking of.

Kushina scoffed. "Whatever kid. Your excuses are getting worse every time I hear them. Just get inside the house and go wash up. I'll reheat dinner."

Kushina spun on her heels, marching back towards the house.

Minato let out an audible sigh of relief.

Whew, at least they didn't change the course of time by accidentally dying too prematurely.

* * *

Rin always prided herself in being the observant one of the group, probably only second to Sensei, but sometimes she didn't quite know what to make of her observations. She thought it was strange that she was the first to arrive at their meeting spot; Kakashi was always there before her to get in some extra training. One time she offhandedly inquired what time he arrived, to which he responded that he was always there two hours before the designated meeting time.

By Kakashi's standards, he was already two hours late. Rin tried to not dwell on it too much as she loitered around to wait for the rest of her team to show up.

Minato showed up three minutes before the meeting time, like he always did, but it seemed so strange to Rin that he was the second to arrive. Kakashi...wouldn't be late, would he?

If Minato was bothered by the absence of his silver haired student, he didn't show it. The two of them sat in silence as they waited for the two remaining members of their team.

A minute after their designated meeting time, Rin perked up upon seeing two figures in the distance.

Wait, two? Together? She couldn't wrap her mind around it.

When the two figures were close enough so that she could identify their faces, Rin confirmed that it was Kakashi and Obito. Like always, they were arguing over something, but it lacked the usual animosity associated with it.

Kakashi and Obito arrived together. What was going on?

"You should be thankful that I wasted my time trying to drag you to the training ground so you can be on time for once," Kakashi was saying.

"Hey! I didn't ask for you to do that," Obito exclaimed, before mumbling under his breath. "I wouldn't have been late."

"Sure you wouldn't have. Did you forget what we learned yesterday? Be on time for the things that matter. Training matters."

"I know, I know. I don't need you to lecture me considering that you were the one who was late."

What? Why was Rin not following their conversation at all?

She lightly tugged on Minato's sleeve to get his attention. "Are those two okay? They seem kind of weird."

Minato flashed her a smile. "Don't worry about it. At least they're somewhat getting along, right?"

If getting along counted as Obito goading Kakashi into sparring with him and then the two of them going at it with the intent to kill, then yes, they were. Rin winced when Obito's back hit the dirt, but he quickly rolled out of the way to avoid Kakashi's foot.

And the spar continued. It was nothing out of the ordinary; Kakashi remained on offense for the most part while Obito struggled to make it past defense to strike back. The only peculiar thing was that Kakashi actually held back in the second half of their spar.

And gave Obito pointers on how to adjust his defensive stance.

And harshly pointed out every one of Obito's openings.

Rather than growing frustrated at Kakashi for what Rin imagined Obito to perceive as Kakashi patronizing him, Obito took all of his advice in stride, quickly readjusting to cover his openings. In just a few minutes, Rin was amazed at the difference.

Considerably fewer hits landed on Obito. And the few hits that did were because Obito slipped up, but as the spar progressed, the mistakes became farther and fewer in between.

And finally, Obito finally switched to offense. Analyzing both of their moves told her that Kakashi's defense was almost perfect, save for the small opening in his left side. Obito hadn't been that quick to figure it out, but it allowed him an opportunity to practice his offensive moves.

Yet the strange thing to her was that Kakashi was actually letting Obito be on offense. There were multiple times where Kakashi could have flipped the switch and forced Obito on defense again; instead, Kakashi kept up with defending himself against Obito's blows.

"Put more weight into it. At this strength, your hits won't do anything," Kakashi lectured while ducking to avoid Obito's roundhouse kick.

"Sensei, are you sure this is normal?" Rin asked. "Yesterday they were at each other's throats, but today, it seems like they are getting along."

"Well, they had to grow up sometime, right?"

"But what changed? They didn't just magically get along overnight."

"I suppose the advice from a certain Hokage helped."

A certain Hokage? Wasn't there only one? Even Minato sensei seemed weird, like he was in on whatever had transpired between them the day before.

Rin pinched herself to make sure that it wasn't a dream. It wasn't.

She resigned herself to the fact that she may never know, but at least it was a good thing that it finally got her two teammates to start working as a team. Perhaps from here on out, they would have some semblance of a team.

Rin was jolted out of her thoughts when she heard Obito hollering her name. He waved at her to join him and Kakashi, who stopped the spar for a quick water break. Upon Sensei's reassurance, Rin bounded over to where the two of them were, shocked to hear that they were actually conversing civilly.

Kakashi was currently listing a bunch of fire jutsus, proposing that Obito should learn them to add to his arsenal to which he readily agreed.

They agreed on something. The world must be ending.

"Do you want to learn a new jutsu?" Maybe Rin really was hallucinating, there was no way those words came out of Kakashi's mouth. Much less directed at her.

"Sure?"

"You're a water type," Kakashi stated. "If you learn water jutsus, you can put out whatever the idiot manages to catch on fire when he practices his fire justus."

Ah, there it was! The insult. This, Rin could deal with.

She giggled as Obito fired back at Kakashi's insult while Kakashi nonchalantly tuned him out.

"Come on, we have to train," Kakashi interjected, cutting Obito off, mid-rant. "We got a future to see."

Obito nodded.

The image of her two teammates actually being on the same page was quite jarring to process, but that was alright. Rin could get used to this.

This might just become the new normal.

**End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello for the last time!
> 
> This is the end of this story. Not sure how you feel about ambiguous endings, but I like them so I'll leave it to you to decide if anything does change as a result of this trip. And well, open ended endings have potential for a sequel! :) I might write a continuation - I have some ideas floating around in my head - but no promises and if I do, it'll probably be a few months from now before I even get to it. Have some other stories to finish first!
> 
> Would love to know what you thought of the overall story. Thank you for reading and I would love to see you guys around sometime - whether through your stories or mine. :)  
> -MM


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